It sure was nice to see bluesman Willie Buck getting his due at a trio of recent CD release shows.
This isn’t to say that Buck has been overlooked. After all, he’s been a popular figure on the
Chicago Blues scene for over eight decades. He’s headlined clubs, hawked his CDs at several
shows, and frequently hits the local blues benefits to help “buck up” the beneficiaries.

But, with the recent release of his Oh Yeah collaboration with Bob Corritore and an ultra-talented
backing band, it seems like the 87-year-old Buck’s musical trajectory will be rising dramatically.
This is all due to Oh Yeah being a testament to old-school Chicago blues with Buck’s vocal
talents delivering that distinctive sound to lucky listeners.

Oh Yeah dropped on Friday, June 20 th , and Corritore coordinated three shows to coincide with its release. The first show was on June 20 th at the Nordlof Center in Rockford with an all-star cast that included Bob Stroger, Jimi “Primetime” Smith, Billy Flynn and Steve Bass. The action
moved over to Rosa’s in Chicago on June 21 st with Harlon Terson replacing Stroger on bass.
They wrapped it up in fine fashion with a final show at SPACE in Evanston on June 22 nd with
Kenny Beedy Eyes Smith on drum duty with Bob Stroger back on bass. But, despite this stellar
cast, the shows were focused on headliner Buck.

That’s not to say that the other artists didn’t shine. These players have been baptized in the
Chicago blues tradition, and they brought back the flavor and feel of real-deal Chicago blues
from back in the day, Jean Vetrovec of Naperville attended the Rockford opener and had this to
say, “ It was a really good throwback show” and added that the powerful 2-set performance
brought back memories of “the old times seeing blues!”

Like so many others, Vetrovec marveled at 95-year-old Stroger’s skills on bass and his
showmanship. She said, “What a treasure! He was so good that night!” Vetrovec also had high
praise for Chicago blues’ go-to guitarist, Billy Flynn and complimented Corritore’s strength as a
bandleader.

After rocking the house in Rockford, the Oh Yeah caravan moved the show over to Rosa’s
Lounge on Armitage in Chicago. Billed as “Chicago’s Friendliest Blues Club” with a Mississippi
juke joint vibe, Rosa’s welcomed a variety of blues lovers, musicians, assorted family members
and luminaries like Dick Shurman and Terry Abrahamson.

The first show kicked off promptly at 9:30 and started with some solos by Flynn and Smith.
Then, it was time for the man of the hour to arrive and Buck was quick to remind people what
the show was all about. After receiving a few resounding “oh, yeahs” from the enthusiastic
crowd, Buck launched into a few songs from the CD including the catchy title track.

But there were more surprises for blues lovers at the 11 pm show as Buck was joined by many of
his contemporaries including Lil Ed and Buck’s guitarist and bandleader, Thaddeus Krolicki.
The Willie Buck whirlwind weekend wrapped up with a show at SPACE in Evanston. Here, I
was fortunate enough to have a front row seat to see traditional Chicago blues in its finest form.

Before the man of the hour arrived, Flynn, Smith and Stroger all excelled with their solo
material, and no one blows traditional harp like Bob Corritore.

All this led up to Buck’s grand entrance and the wily veteran didn’t disappoint. Jennifer Noble,
longtime blues aficionado and author of 50 Women in the Blues, summed it up when she said that “I gotta say, I never saw Willie Buck so happy on stage and he sounded great. Such a strong
voice!”

Besides the full-blown old school Chicago blues in its finest form, there were fun unscripted
moments during the SPACE show. At one point, Buck received a phone call right before he
launched into “Brand New Cell Phone” from Oh Yeah.

With Corritore and Smith both back in Arizona, it would be difficult to predict when this group
will get together again. However, the good news is that these musicians are featured on Oh Yeah, which is available on all platforms.